Last night, thousands of people in Chengdu were immersed in the golden voice of Placido Domingo when the Spanish tenor was performing on its sole concert in Chengdu, capital city of southwest Sichuan Province. More than 6,000 dressed audience swarmed into Sichuan Gym and witnessed the historical and exciting moments.
The concert began with Johann Strauss Sr.’s most famous piece Redetzky March. After the band’s performance, Domingo, wearing dark-blue suit and black shirt, appeared on the stage and sang his first song, an excerpt piece of The Lay of the Cid, the oldest preserved Spanish epic poem. Afterwards, he proceeded with the Italian opera Tosca, Giacomo Puccini’s most well-known work, creating an atmosphere of high level excitement in the audience. Whenever the tenor finished a song, the audience returned him with intense applause. For many of them, it is their first time, probably the only time to go to the theatre and watch the live performance of the "living opera legend".
When Domingo and Chinese soprano Song Zuiying sang The Flame of Love together, the audience’s memories were brought back to the spectacular moment of the closing ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games where those two great singers impressed the audience worldwide with this romantic and inspiring song.
At the end of the concert, Domingo and song joined hands with 100 kids from the earthquake-affected areas in Sichuan to sing the Auld Lang Syne, one of most recognized songs worldwide, leading to the climax of the concert, and delivering a perfect ending.
Meanwhile, outside the gym, the scenes were spectacular with thousands of folks gathering together on the squares. They watched the live show via LEDs and sang the Auld Lang Syne with the singers and kids in the gym.
Last night, Chengdu was sending the most powerful voice to the whole world.